[Reader-list] Marichjhapi and the Revenge of Bengali Bhadralok: The story of a Dalit Genocide that remains untold

Shuddhabrata Sengupta shuddha at sarai.net
Tue Dec 1 00:27:26 IST 2009


The CIA had infiltrated the refugee lines in Marichjhaanpi ?
The ISI has infiltrated the RSS?
The Protocol of the Elders of Zion is actually the Constitution of  
India?
The KGB runs Kentucky Fried Chicken?
The Foreign Hand is the Match Fixer?
The Mossad is running Ramdev?
Ramdev controls the Pope?
The Reader List is actually a conspiracy hatched by little green men  
from Mars?
The Minarets in Switzerland are missiles?
Transparency, when it happens through other agencies, is Opacity?


On 30-Nov-09, at 11:53 PM, A. Mani wrote:

> On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:32 PM, saswati ghosh <sg_cal at hotmail.com>  
> wrote:
>> dear all,
>> it is most unfortunate that we had to wait for amitav ghosh to  
>> write a novel
>> in english to have an all-India reaction on marichjhapi!!!
>> there were responses AT THAT time as well. the far left,  
>> particularly the
>> students, responded. some far-left students from jadavpur  
>> university tried
>> to reach that place, even by swimming across when denied ferry  
>> services. I
>> don't now where those friends are now, may be settled in the west as
>> well-placed engineers!!!
>
>> yes there is a caste aspect in the marichjhapi story. the caste  
>> question in
>> the left-socialist bengal has always been a latent issue. I think,  
>> the
>
> Caste is of little consequence in Left-Bengal. There are two main
> aspects in the marichjhapi story:
>
> 1. Mismanagement of the refugee problem by the Left Government. Due to
> resource constraints, the Govt realised that they could not offer much
> support to the refugees in Dandakarnya.  But entry into the state was
> allowed  - this was a mistake (they were explicitly warned of 'no Govt
> support', though). Most of the village people in West Bengal resisted
> their entry and many violent incidents did take place.
>
> The police action was intended to evict the refugees from Marichjhapi
> and also to arrest particular merceneries.
>
> 2. The involvement of the CIA and related agencies (who apparently had
> infiltrated the refugee lines) in organising armed training camps was
> also a major reason for the police action. The CIA may never
> declassify documents relating to their involvement (and when they
> operate through other agencies, then it is not usually transparent).
>
> All decisions by the Left Government were taken on the basis of
> feedback from the ground level. Within the CPI(M) party all these
> aspects were debated in detail and
> many did not want a direct police action.
>
>  Direct casualties in action were limited. It is also true that most
> of the party people regard the forced eviction as the biggest mistake
> ever.
>
> There are no parallels with any other later-day incident.
>
> You can try claiming that the villagers in South Bengal were
> 'casteist', but it is not true.
>
> Best
>
> A. Mani
>
>
> -- 
> A. Mani
> ASL, CLC,  AMS, CMS
> http://www.logicamani.co.cc
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Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net




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